In All The Dark Places : Story One
by tparker
Summary: First of a series of short tales of various rangers during the Shadow war.


**_In All The Dark Places_**

...And Valen foretold of the return of the Great Darkness, that there would once again   
be a coming of Shadows; that there must be a line drawn against the night.   
To wait, to watch, to serve, to die. And he called them... Rangers.

Disclaimer : The Babylon universe belongs to the Great Maker, JMS (all hail and bow to his glory and might!) and to   
Warner, PTen, Babylonian, etc. and all their applicable entities. This work is for entertainment only and is in no way intended to infringe upon their rights. All things not previously part of the Babylon universe belong to the author. 

Posting : Please ask first : [tparker@etherstorm.penguinpowered.com][1]

In All The Dark Places : Story One   
by Tricia Parker

Setting: 2259, early to mid second season.   


As the sun sank ever closer to the horizon the locals started coming out to play. Jacob knew he needed to get off the streets fast. None of the dives in the surrounding area where any better than the streets themselves and he hurried toward the brighter lights of the next district. It wasn't much better than this one, but at least there humans weren't considered fair game for dinner, usually. The heavy fabric of his brown cloak gathered around his legs, the wind playing with the edges. One hand held the top tight to his chest. No one here was likely to recognize a Ranger pin as anything other than a bauble of possible resale value, but even that was enough of a reason to start trouble.

_'I should never have waited so long for him to show.' _He thought as he consciously tried to look inconspicuous._ 'All that time, the whole trip really, just wasted! '_

The assignment was simple enough for his first solo as a Ranger. Information gathering from a known, semi-reliable informant on an Non-Aligned World trade planet. A rather small, backward place, but location is everything and that was the one thing Barak 7 had for it. He still had no idea why it was Barak 7. It wasn't the seventh planet in the system, that was just the name the inhabitants used.

_ ' Funny in a way,' _ he silently mused,_ ' They don't even seem to like the number seven. Sort of like thirteen back on Earth. Oh well, greater minds than mine...'_.

Clearing the last street he was carefully looked over and waved through by the heavily armed guards of the next sector. He kept walking at an even pace as the guards tensed to a sudden loud noise a few streets behind him. The shattering was followed by growls and screams, shouting and weapons fire. '_Apparently the fun is starting early tonight.' _ With a final look at the last guard who was thumbing the trigger on his weapon and keeping one eye on the wide roadway Jacob had just passed, Jacob came into the market district. He figured that, on some worlds, maybe a separated class society *was* a good thing.

***********************************

"Do you recognize this?" Jacob's voice rose slightly as he revealed the Ranger pin on his uniform, centered over his heart. He had spent four hours this morning tracking down the supposedly (semi-) reliable informant who had not shown up for their meeting last night. Then the better part of another hour trailing the guy to a place where he could be approached in reasonable safety. Now they had been bickering for over half an hour. Jacob did well in Ranger training due to a naturally large endowment of patience, at least 'for a human' as his instructors tended to phrase it. Now even that formidable reserve was running out fast.

" Look, I understand that your original agreement was with Tamar, but she is not here now. I am a Ranger and I am here. Please, if you have any information for us please give it to me. If you don't have anything, then tell me *that* and I will leave you alone and find out what I can on my own before I have to catch a ship outta here. I am not interes"

"NO!" the irate little local interrupted loudly. He glanced around then lowered his voice to continue, " You must not ask around on your own. They will know. They will come. They will find you, then me. Then we are both dead. I do not like this idea."

"They who? How will they know? Are you being watched?" Jacob tried not to sound or look nervous. He was just exasperated enough to pull it off.

"Tamar knew. She did not question. She came and took what I knew and then left. She was, what is your word..., intelligent! You are not." The squat head shook sadly at his shortcoming.

Forcibly ignoring the last remark Jacob tried again. " Tamar didn't make it back with your last information. She was killed in a shuttle accident transferring ships and hadn't sent in a report yet. Now if you will just tell me what you last told her"

The informant shook vehemently as a stage whisper interrupted again, "Not accident. _Them."_

_ "Them?_"

"Them!" was the firm reply, accompanied by a short sharp nod and a knowing glance, " Now you understand!"

'_Understand? I understand that my first glorious assignment as a Ranger is to interview a melodramatic mad man. He can't possible believe that someone contrived a shuttle accident killing 18 people just to keep a Ranger from reporting. Almost no one even knows about the Rangers.' *_Simplify* he thought, his training overriding his frantic mind.

" Ah, yes well, The information you gave Tamar, was it about, um, _Them?_"

"Yes! You do understand! Maybe you are intelligent!"

The noise Jacob made clearing his throat was somewhere between a gag and a snort. "I really do still need whatever you can give me about _Them_ so I can make the report. You may have a vital piece we are missing from some where else without even realizing it." Jacob sighed inwardly as the the agitated being responded to the stroking of his ego.

" Of course. Of course." His eyes darted swiftly around before leveling on Jacob. "Well, here is what I told Tamar. They are small and grayish and you can't see them unless they want you too." Each bit of description was punctuated with a sharp nod and serious look. "Rumor says they are rare now, but more will be used. Rumor also says that they are tools, they just don't know it."

Jacob closed his eyes, chanting in his head and praying he could remain calm. '_small and grayish and NO!' _he banished the line of thought before he could allow himself to react to it my choking the pitiful life out of the creature across from him. '_What a waste!.'_ He opened his eyes and stared at the empty chair in front of him. He quickly sat up straighter, his eyes dashing around the room even as he bolted for the door. A glance down the street either direction was all he needed to know it would take hours, if not days, to find anyone in the busy district.

*****************************************

The brown cloak blended well with the night shadows as Jacob watched the open front shack across from him. His afternoon and early evening had been spent bouncing from bar to hut to shack in progressively seedier areas, looking for some shred of information to take back to Minbar. In training they had been told many times to expect more searching than finding along their chosen path. However the thought of returning from his first mission empty handed but for the ravings of an obviously burned out source was more than he could stand.

His eyes tracked the object of his attention. What little useful data he came up with today pointed toward this as his best bet for questioning. '_Very large, very drunk. Such a fun combination of attributes.' _Jacob continued watching as the subject moved out of the drinking area and down the street. The lack of street lights allowed him to follow with relative ease down the rows of closed businesses. A muffled noise behind him drew his attention for a moment, but that moment was all it took to lose the dark form in front of him. "Damn!"

Ducking into the narrow walkway between the buildings, Jacob hid for a moment to plan his next move. The path giving access to the side of the building was almost wide enough for a single person to move comfortably through. He assumed the openings were to the back doors which such businesses seemed frequently in need of. There was a small patch, darker than the night surrounding it at the back edge of the walkway. Turning once more to the street to ensure he was alone, Jacob moved silently deeper into the confining alley. As he neared the end his nosed tickled at a sharp smell he couldn't place right away. From within a pocket of his cloak he withdrew a small light, glancing once more behind him before cautiously before turning it on.

A few seconds was all he needed to recognize the squat head that would never again question his intelligence. With a quick prayer and a wonder of his own for said intelligence, Jacob turned quickly to leave. _'Off planet ship - here I come!'_ The lack of a real report didn't seem to bother him as much now. As he stood straight and moved for the street the opening was blocked by his elusive subject of just a short time ago. Jacob could see at least three more shapes moving in the space behind the huge being. As he prepared to fight, Jacob's mind barely registered the small, grayish shape forming a lump on the shoulder of his massive opponent.   


  


end, story one

   [1]: mailto:tparker@etherstorm.penguinpowered.com?intdp1



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